Russia could impose phone registration by IMEI number from 2023

MOSCOW, Dec 7 (PRIME) -- Russia could introduce registration of mobile phones by the international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number from 2023, according to a bill discussed on Thursday at a meeting of an ad-hoc information society commission of the Federation Council, the parliamentТs upper house.

The billТs authors say the initiative will settle the problem of gray imports and theft of devices. At present, budget loses from the non-payment of import duties stand at 16.6 billion rubles.

The bill, which stipulates amendments to the law on connection, orders creation of an IMEI number central database for the phones that are permitted or banned for exploitation in mobile networks of the country, as well as databases of operators.

All these bases will be synchronized with the international database of the GSM Association, which covers operators of 43 countries, in order to receive information of the GSMA-registered and certified phones, as well as of those lost and stolen.

The document says connection operators can host in their networks only the devices approved for work in the country. Exploitation is banned for the phones that are unregistered, lost or stolen, those with non-unique IMEI number or the devices without an IMEI number.

Importers, manufacturers, or individuals purchasing phones abroad will be in charge of registration. The procedure will cost individuals no more than 100 rubles.

Several lists of devices will be drawn up -- a black list for stolen, illegally imported, blocked on demand of the law enforcement entities; a white list for fully functioning devices in the networks of mobile connection; a gray list and a list of exceptions, or temporarily working devices for the period of a check of legitimacy of a purchase or import.